We have aimed to provide our members consulting projects and
challenges that will equip them to tackle future assignments confidently and competitively. We also aim for facilitating in growth
of collective knowledge of the entire student community interested in the Consulting and Strategy domain. This magazine says it all. In
this issue of Strategist we have emphasized on Automation, which is
undergoing major changes and is one of the important sectors to prop
up our nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy in coming years. We hope you enjoy this issue
of Strategist as much as we enjoy creating it.
-Team ConQuest

C O N T E N TS
MAGAZINE

.
1.

DISRUPTIVE AUTOMATION IN INSURANCE
-

2.

6

DISRUPTIVE AUTOMATION IN MANUFACTURING
-

3.

DISRUPTIVE AUTOMATION IN IT/ITES
-

4.

11

Rishika Sarin, IMI New Delhi

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN BFSI SECTOR
-

5.

17

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION IN FOOD TECH
-

6.

15

19

INTERVIEW: MR. NARAYANA BHATTA
-

22

From the Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Desk
ConQuest (The Consulting Club), IIM Shillong
In this edition of Strategist,
we aim to expose the enthralling, electrifying and
creepy world of automation
that is being created by, yet
awaits the human species.
Automation has been in the
picture for a long while, but
it is only in the recent years
that the progress has expedited and scope widened.
The process of making human assistance obsolete has
spread its roots into almost
all domains of life and business functions.
Technology is advancing at
an unbelievable rate. It has
reached such a level that
tasks which were believed to
be too complicated to be automated are now getting automated successfully. This
rise is making a substantial
population across the world
engulf into fear, primarily
because they think that their
jobs would be taken away by
the machines. However,

there are two sides to this
argument, the optimistic
and pessimistic. The optimists argue that the machines and automation have
existed for a long time now
and widespread unemployment due to automation has
never materialized before,
why, should this time be any
different? Whereas, their
counterparts argue that this
time we are living in a new
automation age and the
game is on. The change
will not happen overnight.
Various vital factors will impact the pace and extent of
automation adoption.
These include; technical
feasibility, cost of developing and deploying solutions,
labor market dynamics, economic benefits, etc. The
technical and cost factors
are crucial because we need
to invent and integrate the
technology required to automate certain activities, for

which, we need to invest
capital. Apart from these,
the most critical factor that
will impact the rate of adoption is the social and regulatory acceptance of automation. Even if all this makes
business sense, humans
might not be willing to accept this change which can
hinder the prospects of development in this field. Taking all the factors into consideration, the general belief
is that it might take decades
for automation to make an
impact at the macro level
but, could be quite fast at
the micro level.

Most of the debate about
automation has been around
the potential for mass unemployment. This is based on
the premise that there would
most certainly be a surplus
of human labor. But with
the overall ageing population, this may not be the
case.

What is speculated is that
the coming age will be the
age of transformation. People will upgrade their skillsets to compliment the work
that machines do hence,
bringing transformation to
the structure of organizations and invention of new
business models incorporating these changes.
For businesses, automation
will bring benefits by increasing the productivity and
decreasing the error, but for
policymakers, this is creating
a dilemma. They have to
find the right balance between benefiting their economies from increased
productivity (by investing
and giving incentives to encourage continued innovation) and, reforming policies
that will help the workforce
and institutions adapt to the
bearing on employment.
Our take is that automation
will lead to a transition in the
kind of work that humans
do and the business models
of organizations. Mass unemployment is unlikely to
happen as the output gener-

ated by machines has to be
used by humans. But would
we be able to consume that
output if there is no income to invest?

D i s ru p t i v e Au t o m at i o n i n I n s u r a n c e
Aankush Tyagi , Rachel Mathew, GIM
Introduction
New disruptive technologies
continue to emerge, causing
the insurance industry, which
is known for being cautious
and highly regulated, to rethink their business model.
Calling an insurance company isn’t one of the favourite
activities of the consumer,
for a simple reason, insurance industry is one of the
least innovative areas for customer experience and it is
traditionally a selling process
and not a shopping experience. But, things are changing and automation is playing
a large role. Also, automation
is one of the technologies

that would have a biggest
impact on the insurers in the
next three years. In this article, we take a look at Robotic Process Automation and
we strongly believe that this
disruptive technology is the
wave of the future for the
global insurance industry.
What is changing the
landscape of insurance
industry?
• Pressure from millennials
Millennials have always had
technology such as smart
devices, internet and understanding of the technological know-how. They are put-

ting an increasing pressure
to provide high speed, web
and mobile based insurance
service
• Change in consumer
behaviour
There is a change in way
consumers research and interact with the insurance
company and buy insurance
policy. Due to internet, the
interactions with consumers
is on a decline and they typically come away from their
interactions, disappointed
and dissatisfied. Customer
experience has taken the
centre stage and insurance
companies are striving hard
to improve it by adopting
disruptive technology
• New market entrants
The new digital insurance
companies have come up
with innovative product offerings with strategic use of
technology leading to better
customer service and experience. Digital insurer Lemonade and their Chatbot, Maya,
sells inexpensive homeowners’ and renters’ insurance,
and their claims bot, AI Jim
recently settled a simple

tomer lifecycle that allows
the delivery of the product
promise as intended.
Hence, it becomes important to reduce the turnaround time and drive cost
efficiencies and ultimately
affects the loyalty of the
customer in a positive
manner.

cesses, linking it to existing
applications,
and
then
scheduling them to run on
one or more robots whenever required. The best way
to view RPA initially is as
the ultimate “helper”, carrying out the basic work in a
process and enabling humans to do more.

Robotic process automation (RPA)

Benefits
With RPA, the organization
is not required to make any
system changes at all, thus it
can integrate with the existing legacy systems

The figure displayed on the
next page, provides information about the insurance
value chain and the customer
journey.

RPA is the answer to the
manpower intensive claims
processing department. Insurance companies are
highly dependent on the
efficiency of their back office. Use of robotics would
help in automating business processes and streamline their back-office operations.

Claims Management

How does it work?

Claims processing department tends to be manpower intensive which results in it being more of cost
centre rather than a profit
centre. The claims process is
literally the single most important “moment of truth”
for an insurance company or
the one point within the cus-

RPA works by replicating
the activities that people
currently undertake, using
existing core applications,
accessing websites, and manipulating
spreadsheets,
documents and email to
complete tasks. Using RPA
software involves mapping
out current or new pro-

claim in three seconds. If insurance companies maintain
status quo, they will be taken
over by new market entrants
with superior technological
know-how
Ever changing technology
•

RPA will be most beneficial
if it is used to automate simple and repetitive tasks. If
RPA is targeted at complex
tasks, it will lead to increased
costs without the desired
benefits
Automating too much
of a process
•

Clear understanding of the
process along with the extent to which the process
should be automated
•

Assuming RPA should

be IT controlled instead
of business owned
Each of the process (in
claims processing) has a
business importance and
thus decision related to it
should be owned by business and executed by IT
team
Restructure of organization with respect to
FTEs
•

Since, implementation of
RPA will reduce human intervention, the manpower
in the claims processing
unit can be reduced and
therefore, focus more on
high value activities
Mitigation
Analyze, prioritize and
select areas where RPA satisfies pre-requisites and de•

Robotic process automation
seems to solve a lot of problems that the insurance industry is currently facing,
but is it actually feasible?
And if it is how does it affect the workforce? To understand the feasibility of
RPA, we need to do a cost
benefit analysis. Let us take
the example of an organization with 750 employees in
the claims processing department. On an average, the
employees are paid $14.20
per hour, thus the annual salary expenditure to maintain
this
workforce
is
$
31,470,300
If we use RPA licenses, then
32% of the workforce can
be replaced i.e. 240 employees will be replaced. It is also
known that one RPA can replace three employees, therefore to replace 240 employees we will need 80 RPA licenses. Incorporating the
costs associated with deploying these licenses and the
salaries of the remaining
employees, the cost comes

Figure 1: Insurance value chain and customer journey

out to be $ 22,214,804. This
results in a benefit of
$9,255,496 with ROI of
42%.
With such great financials,
RPA is definitely going to be
one of the most disruptive
technologies in the Insurance industry. However, we
also need to address the effect of this massive automation on the workforce.

& competencies while eliminating operational barriers

Expectation Clarity: The
employees should be clear
about the fact that their talents will be repurposed to
higher value adding tasks.
What lies ahead?
We have seen the umpteen
benefits of RPA in insurance and we also looked at

mitigating the risks associated with it. The truth of the
matter is that RPA is the future of an industry like Insurance which needs speed,
accuracy and the ability to
analyze vast amounts of data. The question is how
quickly can organizations
jump onboard and make it
an industry norm?

Change Management
An effective change management strategy will be needed
to motivate the employees.
The Three-E change management framework can be
usefulExplain: The employees
need to be explained as to
what is happening in terms
of automation and their inputs should be used to create robotic operating model
defining roles & responsibilities of the RPA.
Engage: The employees
should be engaged by helping them develop new skills

for a leading developer of solutions and services in the insurance and financial services industry

Method 1: Cost with FTEs only
Number of FTEs
Hour per shift
Salary per hour
Number of days
Total salary expense

750
8
$14.37
365
$31,470,300

Method 2: Cost with RPA and FTEs
Number of FTE replacement per RPA
% of FTE to be replaced by RPA
Number of FTE to be replaced
Number of RPA license required
One time cost (consulting, implementation, training & configuring)
Amortization period
Expenditure
Total Recurring cost for RPA per annum
Number of FTEs not replaced
FTEs Salary expense
Total expense

$8,15,000
510
$21,399,804
$22,214,804

Benefit
Total Cost without RPA
Total cost with RPA
Benefit
ROI

$31,470,300
$22,214,804
$9,255,496
42%

Figure 3: Cost Benefit analysis of RPA implementation

3
32%
240
80
$45,000
3

Disruptive Automation in Manufacturing
Sandeep, MDI Gurgaon
What seemed like a scene
from a science fiction movie
a few years ago has now become reality. 3D printers
over the years have gained
mainstream attention for
their capability and versatility. In this article we shall
look at what the current
trend is and how big a disruption will this technology
cause.
Introduction
3D printing ( also known as
“additive manufacturing” ) is
revolutionizing the way manufacturing industry has been
functioning over the years.
The supply chain model with
a number of interdependent
processes runs the risk of
getting obsolete with the advent of this new technology.
What is 3D printing?
In a lay man’s term the idea
is simple. Just like a conventional inkjet printer, 3D
printer takes input in the
form of information. While
the inkjet printer will use
that information to print on
the paper by applying ink,

the 3D printer injects materials in successive patterns
to build three dimensional
objects.
Innovations in 3D printing
over the years has led to the
development of many approaches and technologies
that help us in converting
our ideas into 3D models.
Three of the most popularly used technologies for 3D
printing are:
Elective laser sintering
(SLS): Feed material in the
powdered form is melted
using lasers to form the desired objects. Mostly used
to print metal - based materials
•

Fused deposition modeling (FDM): Hardened
feed material (like plastic on
a coil) is melted layer by layer to produce the desired
object. This is the most
widely used and the most
widely know technology
among consumers
•

Stereolithography
(SLA): A laser beam is used
to build the object layer by
•

layer. A liquid polymer that
hardens on contact with the
laser’s light is used as the
feed. It is well established
for rapid prototyping applications
Economic Implications of
3D printing
In the traditional manufacturing set up, the supply
chain is such that, material
and individual components
are sourced and shipped
from various locations to the
factory where the actual
product is manufactured and
assembled. Once an order is
placed, an elaborate distribution network is in place
where the product from the
factory is sometimes sent to
the warehouse before it is
delivered to the store or the
end-customer.

3D printing greatly reduce
the complexity of this system which has so many variables, most of which are beyond the manufacturer’s
control. Each of these forward and backward parts of
the supply chain are cost
centers. With 3D printer’s
versatile ability to print components on demand, the
whole system can be reduced to a few components
leading to substantial economic savings on logistics,
procurement and production
costs. Thus the key benefits
from 3D printing can be
summarized as follows:
Reduction in the number
of steps required to produce
a customized product. This
can greatly reduce the time
to market ( TTM ) of a new
design giving the innovators
a first mover advantage over
its rivals
•

The distribution network
can be shrunk and the production facility can be positioned close to the customer.
This will help is catering to
more customized demand
from the customer
•

This process can also lead
to achieving more operational efficiency as compared to
the existing production tech•

niques. The material wastage will be reduced and energy consumption required
to produce per unit of the
product will be significantly
lesser as compared to the
existing practices
The Future Outlook

With the advantages listed
above, 3D printing looks as
a lucrative technology that
will dominate the future
technology landscape. Thus
many top companies are
betting heavily on 3D printing. As per Gartner, a leading information technology
advisory company, over the
past five years, 3D printing
has moved from a new
technology in its infancy towards accelerating maturity
( as shown in the figure 1).
It is a signal that the technology is now being
adapted rapidly.
McKinsey, a well known
consultancy firm, estimated
that 3D printing market will
grow between $180 billion
to $490 billion by the year
2025.
If 2016 can be any indicator for this trend, there
were significant movements
in this field. Mercedes-Benz
Truck announced of its

first 3D-printed spare parts
service. GE, BMW and Nikon have made a multimillion dollar investment in the
3D printing start-up Carbon.1
Will the 3D Printer Sound
The Death Knell for the
Supply Chain?
The advantages stated above
have made it ominous for
people to predict that this
disruptive technology will
end up dismantling the supply chain model as a whole.
Although this seems to be
the case on the surface,
when we dig deeper, we find
that barring a few early industry adopters this technology has not seen a widespread integration into the
core production technology
of many industries. An industry where 3D printing
has penetrated and set
benchmarks is the medical
and the healthcare industry.
3D printer is being successfully used to create prosthetics and implants ( such as

This limited adoption is surprising considering additive
manufacturing has been
around since the early 1980s.
According to the EnY Global 3D Printing Report 2016,
11 % of the companies in its
survey are testing and experimenting with 3D printing,
while just 3% claim significant experience of 3D printing and have a clear strategic
plan at the highest management level for its future application.
Some probable causes behind this slow adoption can
be
High costs of printers,
scanners and the material
•

Limited knowledge about
3D printing and aversion to
using a new technology
•

Lack of faith in the sustainability of the printer
over a long term usage and
industrial application
•

Quality of the product:
Will it be durable?
•

Thus, to pose as a threat to
the existing supply chain,
there are certain challenges
that 3D printing technology
will have to overcome
which we shall see in the
next section.
Challenges to the 3D
Printing Technology
Materials used in printing: As the input is a critical factor in determining
the quality of the output,
•

the material used in 3D
printer is one of the most
critical challenge that this
technology faces. Although
there are a number of materials available, the real challenge lies in creating a
unique product from a number of materials. Today, the
printers available in the market can handle at most three
different materials. The
costs, however, are very high
and increase proportionately
to the increase in the material. Another important factor
is the quality of the product.
With a limited number of
material, the quality of the
product that can be produced becomes severely constrained. Only when more
number of materials are incorporated, we can assume
that the spectrum of products printable will expand
exponentially.
The speed of printing
(effective output): In order
to be an effective alternative
to the existing manufacturing methods, the 3D printing
technology has to be faster
and more accurate. For example, today a consumer
grade FDM printer takes 4-5
hours to print a golf ball.
The 3D alternative to it
should not only be faster but
•

it should also adhere to the
strict quality standards ensuring aesthetics and proper
structural integrity.
Ownership and trust:
Another key factor that
would ensure the success of
the 3D technology would be
the trust in the minds of the
customer. 3D printing is a
new technology. What happens if the product printed
breaks? Who would be liable
for the damage to the customer? In what cases would
the responsibility lie with the
user? To what extent would
the manufacturer be responsible for the breakdown.
Thus, clear guidelines need
to be formulated for all such
issues that may clear any
doubts that may arise in the
minds of the consumer. A
good regulatory framework
can go a long way in improving the credibility of the new
technology
â&#x20AC;˘

Intellectual
Property
challenges: Manufacturing
industryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s competitive advantage has traditionally
been its innovative production techniques. They have
usually been protected by
patents. With the advent of
3D printer, it would be interesting to see how the intelâ&#x20AC;˘

lectual property framework
changes. The designs required to create the product
would be in high demand
and would be vulnerable to
privacy and theft robbing
the company of its competitive advantage instantly
Conclusion
From the factors we have
analyzed above, its clear
that 3D printing is going to
be a disruptive technology.
However, it is highly unlikely that the new technology
will entirely substitute the
existing supply chain systems. Instead, 3D printing
will probably complement
the existing system, making
it more cost-effective and
efficient. For example, an
automotive major might use
3D printing to manufacture
its spare parts and some of

its components in-house
thereby reducing its dependency on the suppliers.
3D printing can mostly create a greater upheaval in customized products where
standardized mass production is not required. In such
industries, 3D printing can
create a competitive advantage which would be difficult to ignore. This can be
observed in the healthcare
and the medical industry
where 3D printing is being
successfully used to create
and design implants and
prosthetics as per the individual customer requirements. In the end, 3D printing will surely turn out to be
the next big thing in the field
of manufacturing, adding
value and improving the
quality of products in the
coming future.

D i s ru p t i v e I n n o vat i o n i n B F S I S e c t o r
ConQuest (The Consulting Club), IIM Shillong
A disruptive innovation is an innovation that creates a new market and value network, which
eventually disrupts an existing
market and value network, displacing established market leaders.”
The disruption in BFSI sector has been around the corner for long now. Traditionally, banks have enjoyed a
monopoly in banking and
financial services. They are
licensed highly regulated and
compliant bodies. The sheer
size of systems, which
served us well in the past,
has created a barrier to implement new technologies
and automation in services.
But in recent past, traditional
banks have faced a lot of
challenges such as the
growth of financial technologies, the increased popularity of NBFCs, and greater
expectation of customers
from the conventional
sources. Recently, there are
many technologies such as
Blockchain, Alternative lending, Artificial Intelligence
and Omnichannel services
that have created a stir in the

BFSI sector by automating
and streamlining various financial processes. These are
bound to have a long-term
impact.
A Blockchain or ‘Internet
of value’ is a digital, immutable, irreversible distributed ledger that chronologically records transactions in
near real-time.
The applications of blockchain are immense and will
automate many redundant
processes. Some of the use
cases are such as lending
money to anyone legally
without an intermediary,
smart contracts to register

lands, reduced time in crossborder remittances, etc. Alternative lending has created
pressure on traditional lending channels. The alternative
lending system relies on digital history and past financial
behavior of potential consumers.
When integrated with bank’s
core banking system, it
would automate the process
of lending significantly. Artificial Intelligence will be pivotal in amplifying customer
services. It would reduce the
reliance on detecting frauds
from physical methods.
Moreover, there are few innovations

The discussed technologies
look to shift BFSI paradigm
in future. Currently, steps
should be taken to integrate
these technologies with existing systems without creating much noise.
such as Robotic Process
(RPA) that has improved inhouse operations of banks
by reducing redundant operations.
RPA is a technology that automates standard and redundant processes performed by
the employees. Currently, the
tasks such as batch processing of payments and reconciliation are verified by
manual intervention. With

the advent of RPA, it can
be done automatically without any security concern.
For example, a teller must
go to multiple applications
(saving accounts screen,
credit card, loan account,
etc., depending on the number of products mapped to
a customer) to update the
address of a customer and
devote three times the required time for a repetitive
task.

Additionally, reskilling of
current workforce would be
required as conventional
roles within the industry may
vanish or evolve. At the
same time, there would be
new opportunities for everyone, both consumers and
service providers, to cherish.

D i s ru p t i v e I n n o vat i o n i n F o o d T e c h
Indrasis Roy, IIM Shillong
Almost all of us loves to eat.
From the spicy Chinese platters to the authentic Indian
dishes, all of us love to gulp
down the mixture of herbs
and spices coupled with the
chemistry of flavours. But
among all others, we have
our own desires of comfort
and living. There is very little
doubt that we live in a generation that values time with
an on-demand comfort solution for every need.
While the craving for ultimate experience isn’t new
altogether, yet this has
gained significant importance with the emergence
of Digital Consumer Technology. The perfect blend of
food and technology has
brought to us the satisfaction of our taste buds with
the comfort of our own
home.
This throws limelight on majorly three different sectors
of food technology in India.
We shall see the different innovative disruptions that
have emerged, the effects
and the future prospects of

the same. Pertaining to the
factor of innovations, several recent developments
have shaped the industry.
To incorporate comfort living and easy food access,
the emergence of several
food aggregators has taken
up a seamless growth in the
recent past. From companies like “Swiggy” to
“Zomato”, the delivery
food aggregator business is
on the booming upfront
rise.
If we consider the specific
chains that offer delivery
services, easy availability of
food has been a prime concern to the customer of
such restaurants. Preferentially, a restaurant not offering home delivery services,

is likely to earn less than its
rising counterparts. Technological advances in the food
technology industry like man
less pizza trucks are being
developed to gain more access to the consumer. The
market size of online delivery system has seen an exponential to 750 million USD
over the past years.
If we consider the effects of
such innovations and disruptions in the domain, the daily
order limit has increased by
approximately 100000 over a
single year. The usual customer visiting the store has
also started ordering food to
enjoy at the comfort of his
home, in turn increasing the

daily order average order value to 358 INR. Such frugal
investments to capture the
delivery market has had significant effects on both the
customer and the producer
or aggregator themselves.
The average cost per delivery has reduced by 1 percent
over two quarters in a single
year, hence providing more
lucrative options for new entrants in the market scenario.
The delivery time has also
reduced giving more expectations and satisfaction levels
to the customer, hence taking the whole game to the
augmented level of need realization.
Going into depth of the scenario facts and figures, the
whole system could be divided into a partner fleet and a
self-fleet system. Preference
of the self-fleet system has
always been high due to the
quality of service. The partner fleets have been primarily concerned with the delivery and timing, which in-

cludes the aggregator business. Self-fleets have been
more concerned with the
restaurant reputation, hence
maintaining the premiumness of their own
brands. In this case, customers too have been more
inclined to the self-fleet system than the partner fleets
as is evident from the relative facts that shows the decrease in satisfaction levels
of partner fleets by 6% as
compared to the self-fleet
system in a single quarter
base of analysis.
If we take into account the
compliance to promises and
the updation and upgrada-

tion of such rising technology, we see a major disappointment. Compliance to
online delivery and other
promises of quality has not
been performing up to the
mark. The updation system
of menu by the aggregator
and even by the selfrestaurant business on their
online platforms has been
on the decline.
Satisfaction with complaint
resolution has gone down by
28 percent in a single year
(2017 as NPS). Overall, even
though an excellent prospective is seen in the market, a
significant threat arises from
the decline of service levels
and quality conformance in
the future trends.
With the ongoing revolution
in the food industry, future
prospects seem bright for a
new entrant as well as for
the existing players who

seem to capitalize on the
downfalls of the system.
With the growing trend of
AI and machine learning,
technological advances seem
to be cropping up in every
corner of the industry.
Measuring the customers
perception through AI and
moving to assessing and analyzing the customer preferences, hence providing a
personalized experience, is
projected to happen in the
next years.
Food technology is a service
that is in compliance with
time, comfort and ease of
doing business. This has
shown the rise of the system
and its popularity among us-

ers in the quarters of
growth where the delivery
experiences have been given
as per the satisfaction levels
of the customer.
With the growth in demand
statistics, quality conformance has been low and operations of such food technology initiatives has seen a
declining trend. In the coming future, this can be seen
as a significant opportunity
to gain on the faults and
hence grow in the market.
According to the Porterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s
Sandwich analysis, any player in the domain that capitalizes on the factors, shall
be sandwiched among cus-

tomer demands and rising
competition, hence moving
to a deadlock scenario.
A scheduled solution for any
company, to serve the customers with proper desirable
satisfaction and growing
technological acceptance,
can lead to the make or
break scenario for this lucrative, yet risky customer service industry.

Interview: Mr. Narayana Bhatta
ConQuest (The Consulting Club), IIM Shillong
him for a discussion on disruptive technologies, management studies, and much
moreâ&#x20AC;Ś

Conquest : How was your
trip to IIM Shillong?

IIM Shillong concluded its
business and management
fest Khlurthma on the 11th
of November, 2017. As a
part of Khlurthma, Conquest had hosted Mr. Narayana Bhatta of Puranika &
Company for a discussion
on inclusive growth and
profitability.
Mr. Bhatta, an alumnus of
IIT Bombay and IIM Calcutta has had a diverse corporate career dabbling in sales,
systems, finance, marketing
and consulting. He is currently working with Puranika
& Company as a consultant.
Post the session, the Conquest team sat down with

Mr. Bhatta: Great. I am
travelling to the east for the
first time.

Conquest : The trend that
we see in our country is
that a majority of engineers go on to do an
MBA. Being an engineering graduate yourself,
how do you see this
trend? Do you believe
that engineers have an
advantage when it comes
to MBA?
Mr. Bhatta: I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know
what the future holds. But I
can tell you from what I
saw in my alma mater, IIM
Calcutta. IIM Calcutta was
typically known to attract
engineers and even the
courses and prospects were

designed likewise. So, I saw a
majority of engineers there.
I believe that there is a possibility that engineers can find
MBA more relatable, since
most of the subjects are statistical and quant based. But
I think, once you are into the
corporate vein, your graduate discipline should not
matter much, unless you are
in a core technical field. Also, it is important to note
that the perception of an engineering degree itself has
changed a lot. Today, an engineering degree is a norm
and not an achievement.
So, I feel that the opulence
of engineers that you see in
a PG course is due to the
changes that have happened
to the graduate level education.

Conquest : In your career,
you have been involved in
both Systems domain and
Finance? Which do you

like better and which do
you feel is most important?

the demands of the new
market. What are your
thoughts on this?

itself, is not scaring people.
AI is.

Mr. Bhatta: I have to say
both are equally important. I
used to work with clients
who were in the Systems domain. For example, I have
worked on implementing
ERP solutions for various
clients. Then I had to draw
from my Systems background. But most of the solutions that we implemented
required a strong understanding of finance concepts
like book-keeping, statement
preparation and so on. So,
both the domains have
helped me immensely in my
career.

Mr. Bhatta: I believe it is a
virtuous cycle. Something
similar had happened in
1969 with the commercialization of banks. We saw a
huge increase in enrolments
in commerce and accounting streams.

you think that the current
skillsets that are available
in the market will go obsolete?

Conquest : In the early
2000s and the late 90s, India had experience an IT
boom which led to so
many people pursuing engineering in order to make
up for the skill gap. Today,
something similar is happening with automation
and artificial intelligence.
People are beginning to
feel that they are not
equipped enough to meet

Over the last 25-30 years, it
has become very easy for
private institutions to set up
colleges in India. And they
all opted for engineering
colleges. So, it became relatively easy to obtain engineering degrees. And this
coincided with the IT
boom. So, these phenomena kind of helped each other.
Coming to the second part
of your question, automation is done so that repetitive tasks can be done faster
and better. IT has increased
in the IT industry due to an
increasing availability of
codes, library functions and
open source platforms like
GitHub. Automation, by

Conquest : But Sir, do

Mr. Bhatta: Most definitely,
as is the case with any disruption.

Conquest : Coming to
something more recent
like bitcoin, what do you
think will be the impact?
Is it disruptive or will it
expand gradually?
Mr. Bhatta: That is too early to say. Bitcoin is a tool and
not a business model. We
will need to see the use cases
of that tool in order to comment on the impact.

Conquest : Sir, you have
worked with a lot of small
companies. When you
look at a start-up, what do
you believe is the litmus
test? What do you look for
in them and what particular factor guarantees its
success as far as you are
concerned?

Mr. Bhatta: As a consultant,
I guess it does not matter if
the start-up that approaches
me is going to be disruptive
or not. What I look for is
‘what additional value will I
be able to add’. If I find a
satisfactory answer to that
question, then I work with
them. Having said that, I also sit in the board of some
companies and I invest in
some companies. The criteria will be different then.

Conquest : Sure. Now sir,
as a note to the budding
managers and leaders who
are reading this, what
quality do you think is a
must have for a manager
in the future? What quality
would you look for in
someone you would want
to work with?
Mr. Bhatta: I can tell you
two things. The first thing is
perseverance. I mean the will
power to sit down and see
something through. I have
seen that it is a rare and often overlooked quality. The
second quality is an inherent
quality to question whatever
information that is given to

you. In every business going forward, we will have a
lot of numbers thrown
around. Those numbers will
tell a story in the periphery
but might be hiding something far more substantial.
It is essential to do your bit
of due diligence before
making a judgement call. It
will lead you to stronger
and more accurate insights.
It will also make your entire
decision making process
easier. A friend of mine
once told me that the Mittal
Group essentially looks at
five parameters before acquiring a business. Just five
parameters for such a gi-

gantic business group. That
is because they have done
their research and they know
what they want.

Conquest : Absolutely.
Thank you so much sir for
your time and insights. We
wish you all the best and
hope to see you again in
IIM Shillong.
Mr. Bhatta: Pleasure’s all
mine. Good luck to you.